1891 $20 PR68
Deep Cameo NGC. This coin is the single finest known example of
any proof Liberty double eagle of any date certified at either NGC
or PCGS. Besides its phenomenal condition, this is an exceedingly
rare date, with a total mintage of 1,390 business strikes and 52
proofs. Q. David Bowers' A Guide Book of Double Eagle Gold
Coins notes that this date "has long been recognized as a
rarity in any grade." The history of bimetallism (or the lack
thereof) and its relationship to the present coin is worth
exploration. In 1837 the U.S. government pegged the ratio of gold
to silver at 16 to 1. During the War Between the States
(1861-1865), little silver was mined, and there were no major
discoveries of the metal. An immediate consequence of the aftermath
of the Civil War had to do with the circulation of $450 million in
"greenback" notes that were unbacked by gold or silver reserves.
Farmers and other debtors supported the issuance of increased
numbers of greenbacks, which would spur inflation and lessen in
absolute terms their ultimate debt repayments. Farmers supported
inflation because they incurred debts in the spring and discharged
them in the fall. Lenders and the wealthy, on the other hand,
wanted to eliminate the circulating greenbacks and to return to a
gold-backed currency, which would reduce inflation and ensure that
they were paid, or repaid, in "hard currency." In 1873, silver was
demonetized and the nation adopted the gold standard, leading the
farmers and debtors to band together with Western silver-mining
interests to rally against what they termed the "Crime of '73." By
1877 debate raged regarding "Free Silver," with advocates,
generally Western silver miners and the aforementioned debtors,
endorsing the unlimited coinage of silver dollars, while Easterners
and creditors generally preferred gold's stability. The "Free
Silver" forces won a partial victory with the 1878 passage of the
"fatally stupid" Bland-Allison Act, as Walter Breen called it. The
Bland-Allison Act required the U.S. Treasury to buy between two
million and four million dollars' worth of silver bullion monthly
at market prices to be coined into silver dollars, which were made
legal tender for all debts, even though there were no demands for
such coins in commerce. Indeed, millions of Mint State silver
dollars went into bank vaults in bags, there to remain for decades.
However, despite passage of the Bland-Allison Act the government
notes were still backed only by gold. True bimetallism would have
backed the notes with either metal, ratios fixed and predetermined
by the government. The Bland-Allison Act heightened overseas fears
that the nation might eventually abandon the gold standard. In the
early 1880s farm prosperity lessened the urgency of "Free Silver,"
but in 1887 a downturn in the agrarian economy again brought the
issue to the fore, with farmers and miners demanding a return to
bimetallism and unlimited silver coinage at the previous ratio of
16 to 1.
Those Western silver interests were stronger than before, with the
addition to the Union in 1889 and 1890 of North Dakota, South
Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming, in that order. The
Sherman Silver Purchase Act, passed in 1890, not only required the
government to purchase more silver than ever before in amounts that
nearly equaled the Western silver mines' entire output, but it also
greatly increased the amount of currency in circulation. Against
this backdrop of ever-increasing silver dollar output for more than
a decade, European bankers and private creditors became
increasingly fearful that the United States might abandon the gold
standard, thus eliminating the possibility of debt repayments in
gold coins or bars. While central banks preferred gold bars,
private banks and merchants preferred gold coins, specifically
double eagles, which contained a known quantity of gold. The gold
content of bars could be determined only by independent assay.
(While domestic accounts could mostly be settled with paper
currency or gold or silver, international commerce largely demanded
hard currency). All this uncertainty regarding the United States'
commitment to gold versus silver meant that for many years in the
1870s through the 1890s, and continuing until 1900, when the nation
again adopted the gold standard, there were enormous net outflows
of gold bars and double eagles outside of the country.
All of this history does much to explain why this particular date
is so rare, both as a business strike and as a proof. But besides
macroeconomic issues unique to 1891, there were also microeconomic
ones at play: twenty dollars was a lot of money in 1891, and two
years later, during the Panic of 1893 when times got harder, it was
even more money. Perhaps a significant portion of the original
proof mintage was spent for one reason or another. There are
certain diagnostics that distinguish proofs from business strikes.
The date on proofs is higher than on business strikes, and level,
while on business strikes it slants downward slightly. The rays
below TE on the reverse are thinner than the other rays.
This example, as the grade suggests, is virtually flawless. Every
hair on Liberty's head is sculptural in detail. The problem-free
devices have heavy frost that provides a startling black-on-gold
contrast against the profoundly deep and incredibly pristine
fields. Lengthy scrutiny under a 16x magnifier reveals only a tiny
reverse round dot indentation to the right of the topmost serif of
the F in OF. Not only is this coin the highest graded at either NGC
or PCGS, its appeal is so phenomenal that NGC has awarded its most
coveted "Star" designation to this example, and quite a star it is.
NGC has graded a total of 22 proof examples, with this being the
highest graded specimen, followed by one coin in Proof 67.
PCGS has graded a total of 21 proof specimens, the highest being a
Proof 66 Deep Cameo. Both of those figures assuredly include
numerous resubmissions and crossovers (11/05).From The Clausen Family Collection.(Registry
values: P3) (NGC ID# 26EC, PCGS# 99107)